Persons engaged in general building maintenance, and cleaning and janitorial work, need and use a great variety of supplies, tools, and equipment in their work. Often this requires either frequent trips to a central location to obtain various cleaning and polishing materials, towels, keys for access to secured areas, etc., or use a cart in order to carry such supplies and equipment.
Obviously, multiple trips between the work area and storage area for supplies and equipment leads to lower productivity. One solution to this is some form of cart which can be pushed or pulled by the maintenance person as he makes his rounds. Such carts are unsuitable in many work environments, however, due to their size and inability to fit through or into many areas and the difficulty in ascending and descending stairways with such a cart when no elevator is close at hand.
The inventor is aware of many specially designed items of apparel, such as vests, belts, and the like intended for various specific uses, such as the carriage of electrical batteries, paint cans, and/or other equipment. Cappis U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,654 of May 22, 1984 and Chindgren U.S. Pat. No. 1,109,161 of Sept. 1, 1914 disclose such devices. While these devices would be suitable for the carriage of various containers, access would be relatively cumbersome due to the system of straps and/or the bulky fit of the carrier itself. Also, no small parts or liquids removed from their individual containers could be carried due to the open bases of the individual sections.
Other inventions, such as Wildum U.S. Pat. No. 3,274,476 of Sept. 20, 1966 also disclose belt devices for the purpose of carrying various articles. The Wildum patent, however, discloses individual containers completely enclosed, which renders their contents relatively inaccessible. None of the patents known to exist disclose devices readily adaptable for use in the janitorial field, or even suitable for such use without major modification so as to completely alter the utility of the device.